Cameraphone

I'm loving the new Blackberry Curve. Finally, I've got a phone that does just about everything I need it to do.

The "Shadow" is hanging in Santa Monica tonight coaching an Aurora Trainee.

Yeah, I know. Yaaaaaaawn!

At least I got out to the beach.
--
Sent from my BlackBerry

What Evil Lurks. . .

Happy Wednesday people. The sun's up and another day filled with unlimited potential is throwing the question back at me and asking in a half-mocking way, "I dunno, what do you want to do?"

Well, I want to write. I'd like to dust off any one of the projects I have in various stages of development and spend a few days holed up in dark quiet room with just my laptop, a bag of Fatburgers and an ice bucket filled with bottles of Frugatti's Voluptuous Blonde.

Okay, we know that's not going to happen today, but if I had my druthers, by now I'd be done with my first burger and popping the cap on beer number two.

Hang on, I have no transition.



An upcoming auction at Bonhams & Butterfields of Marilyn Monroe memoribilia was the assignment yesterday.

Well, okay not my assignment. My assignment was to shadow my fellow photog Nick Mercado and coach him on the edit system.



Let me tell you, the shadow gig can be pretty easy if the shadowee is up to speed on the system and just needs someone there to answer questions if they hit a bump in the road.



Yesterday was easy. On an easy day, I can stand outside of the truck and just patiently nudge people (OMFG, JUST HIT CONTROL-Z!) in the right direction. It's also not unusual for me to have time to juggle tech support phone calls from other crews while I'm shadowing.

Can you hear me now?



This isn't exactly the career path I thought I'd chosen. No problem, (meh) I can handle it.

Speaking from experience, there are far worse assignments (hellooo, I.E., I'm looking at you!) and one of the biggest benefits I enjoy from the training gig is the opportunity to snap a few still pictures without having to juggle the video camera with my still camera.



It always feels great to be surrounded by photographic opportunities and actually have a moment to think about what I want to shoot. Covering a news story, we often have to follow the action and just get the shot. Composition, angles, sequencing, all that has to be second nature because we often don't have time to breathe, let alone think.

In a split second, we have to know what "is" the most important shot.



So, it's kind of nice to sometimes not have that pressure and still be able to witness the parts of our job that are a little less than ordinary. It's even icing on the cake when I can snap a picture and share it.

In the photo above, those are fishnet stockings. Fishnet stockings actually worn by Marilyn Monroe. A lot of people went through their day on Tuesday and didn't get to see that for themselves. That might not be the best example, but I'm sure you understand what I'm saying.

I'm going to work now. There's no telling where I might wind up today and I'm completely happy about that.

What?

What about world domination? Gee, I still intend to take over the world, but until that happens, this'll do.

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I'm still alive.

Half asleep, but I had to string a couple of words together or suffer writer's withdrawal.



Press Conference on a couple of guys who just walked up to a car and unloaded on the passenger



The trees should be obvious.  The city decided they want trees along the 105--


 


Tio.

I'm too fried.  Maybe after some sleep.

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Another Horrific Story.

Well, yeah, if you're a cow. I was on my one news story of the month and somebody decided that the light feature on the fast food burger wars was the perfect story for me.

Triple meat, triple cheese and I could feel my arteries clogging as I enjoyed every last bite..

--
Sent from my BlackBerry

New Blackberry (woo-hoo!)

I'm finally back in the modern age. Cell phone with camera.
--
Sent from my BlackBerry

The Post about the Art Gallery Show

It is way too late at night for me to be sitting at my bar trying to get a post out about the Gallery Show.  I'm worn out  and I really need some rest, but I feel like I might be shortchanging the folks who follow my humble little if I don't post a couple of shots and let you know how the evening went.

It was awesome.  Really, really awesome.  I sold a few 8x10 shots and got some serious interest in the larger pieces.

It's great that people consider my work to be worth hanging up in their homes, but it was really just a wonderful time being out with Dellis and seeing a lot of friends, some family and some of my co-workers.


Photo by Angie Moriconi

The last time I did this, I was the only photographer from my station to participate.  This time, we represented with three more shutterbugs.  That's Dave Malkov, Mike McCormick, Jessica Ming and Lil' ol' Me."



Since the Gallery gets a percentage of any sales made, I hope to sell as many pieces as I can.  It's probably a little frustrating for people who know me to listen when I tell them, it's not at all about selling anything.



It really is more about spending an evening out with friends.  I'm not interested in shooting stills for money.  This wasn't an effort to drum up customers for a sideline business.



I figure, I'll never be rich doing what I do for a living, but I earn enough of a living that I don't have to try to make still photography into a secondary income.  Just the opposite, I can afford to support my still photography with my one and only day job.

The world could change and if I might need to ever reconsider the profit potential in still photography, I will.



Until then, I'll just keep shooting stills and enjoying the company of my friends and family.

It's getting late.  Well, I guess I'll see you in the morning.

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From where I am.

It's getting close to time for me to shower and shave and get dressed for the gallery reception. Expect pictures later this evening. For now, I just wanted to drop a few words of wisdom before I have to "suit up".

I'm looking forward to the evening.


It's going to be a really nice night.


Okay, then.


Yup, that's about it.


I wish there something profound to add, but that's all I got. Heck, I don't even have a photo to drop in.

Goodnight, everybody!

(sigh)

Okay, let me just add one thing. It saddens me some that lately I've had a small twinge of anxiety floating over me each time I've sat down to write. Nothing too heavy, but still, my free time has been so short in recent months that I haven't been able to just relax and do the kind of writing I enjoy. There's always a number of other things needing to be done and many of them a higher priority than writing.

We (okay, me), I live in complicated times. I suppose I'll never have the freedom to do ALL the things I want to do. That's just the way of the world and I accept it. I'm fortunate, because there's enough time in my life to do a lot of the things I have to do and still many of the things I want to do.

I hope this is making some sort of sense. See, really, that's all I have time for.

By the way, tomorrow is the fourth year anniversary of my blog. I'm not stopping.

Woo-hoo!

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In the time available.

Pardon me, I'm still gathering my thoughts, but I have to just go with what I have so far.

There was an artist who used a picture of the 5th Avenue Theater in piece. I'm going nuts trying to remember what the guy's name was.

The internet is not helping me at all.



It's probably a little selfish and difficult to be nostalgic while covering a tragic story, but this was across the street from our location yesterday.

Okay. So, I've got a lot of fond memories of the 5th Avenue Theater from my childhood. I don't remember every movie I saw there, but I remember the last one was in the mid-seventies. It was "Three the Hard Way" and starred Fred Williamson, Jim Kelly and Jim Brown. It was directed by Gordon Parks and you know, I include Gordon Parks as one of my inspirations.

Also Jim Kelly. Hi-yah!

Nothing newsworthy about any of that, but Thursday is almost here (Hellooo, Gallery Show?) and I've been up late/early making prints. I really want to squeeze a post in here before getting ready for work, even though lack of sleep is scattering brain cells.



It always seems like there's more to the story than we can tell in the time available. I'm finding that to be particularly true when I try to give a little insight into what we see and do through the course of a day.

In this post, I didn't get to say anything about the Director of the funeral home who talked to us. I didn't get to tell you about the drunken gang member who joined us for lunch. I didn't get to describe how it felt better to move our camera position so we'd have the news van between our liveshot and the street (just in case someone from the area really didn't like our coverage of the story).

Some much happens. Some of it you might find interesting. I'm just always out of time.

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What'd I Miss?

I'm standing out on Manchester Avenue near closed and "repurposed" movie theaters near and dear to my younger days.

We're following up on the Inglewood Police shooting of an unarmed suspect.

It's my first day back and I'm actually edit coaching more than picking up the camera myself. That's why I'm finding myself with a quiet moment of free time to use for a quick text post from my Blackberry.

We spoke to grieving family members and their pain was difficult to witness. It's horrible to lose a family member and there's so little we can say. Just offering our condolences never seems to justify our intrusion.

We're about to go live for our 11:00pm show. I'm back and it doesn't feel like I ever left.

That's kind of sad, isn't it.

--
Sent from my BlackBerry

Twenty-one, so far.

Vacation: Day Three--

What? No, come on. It can't be Saturday. That would make this, like, vacation day eight. On Monday I have to go back to work. Woo, time flies when you're trying to cram as much into a week off as humanly possible.

Well, on to new business.

I'm expecting that a lot of new folks have been dropping in. Sorry about the lack of Broadcast News related postings. I'm on vacation, so you're getting extra helpings of personal life.



It's been a busy week for me. Even though I've been telling everybody I was taking it easy, that really hasn't been the case. Sadly, I also haven't been in an alcohol induced coma since Monday. Matter of fact. the week involved a lot less drinking than I even normally claim.

It would take me way too long to give all the details on my week off. I'll just hit the high point for now. Besides, I have to get something posted. I don't want to get "Skolnicked" when I get back to work on Monday.



I volunteered my photographic services and spent most of Friday helping out at the Pio Pico Middle School Black and White Ball. It's a middle school formal and almost the complete total opposite of vacation.

A couple of seventh grade helpers and I took photos of about a hundred eighth grade kids and printed them each a picture. Okay, so we ran out of time, but still printed most of them on site.

If we still owe you a picture, you can pick it up from Mrs. Magee's office on Monday.



Dellis thinks it was a difficult thing for me to give up a day from my desperately needed vacation. Nah. She needed me to be there. See, it works out well, because there was no place I would have rather been.

It's good to know that I can count on her for the same kind of support.

Also, Dellis and I celebrated our 21st Wedding Anniversary today. I don't know what the record is for being married, but we're going for it. Call the Guiness people.

Not the beer people, the world record book people.

Aw, heck, go ahead and call them both.

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Forty-seven, so far.

I'm taking a break from work today to celebrate my 47th birthday, Cinco de Mayo and absolutely anything else anyone would like to add.



The only down side right now, is that everyone else is at work until later.  So, for now, it's just me and the dog at home listening to my Herb Alpert record and dancing a conga line around the living room.



There are things in life that I want and don't have.  A home with a fireplace is really high on my list right now, but maybe that's just because the weather is overcast and cloudy.

There are things in life I want and will likely never have.  It doesn't mean that I'll stop working towards my goals (helloooo, world domination), it just means that I know to appreciate what I have right now.



Every day, I smile and laugh and enjoy all the blessings in my life.  I have family and friends who love me.  I can take a day, relax and enjoy.

Happy Birthday to me. . .

. . .also Cinco de Mayo.

Tequila!

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